Polio resurgence in Pakistan following backlash from CIA vaccination ruse in hunt for Osama bin Laden

A polio worker gives polio vaccine drops to a child in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Reuters: Sara Farid

Senior Pakistani health officials have welcomed a move by US intelligence agencies to stop using immunisation programs as a cover for their operations.

But the move comes amid a resurgence of polio cases in Pakistan, a country once thought to be on the verge of eradicating the deadly disease.

"It is good news. If they stick to it then it will help with convincing people that vaccines are not part of a conspiracy," Dr Nima Abid, a senior official with the World Health Organisation in Islamabad, said.

In 2011, the CIA used a hepatitis vaccination program to help locate Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

A local doctor running an immunisation program, Dr Shakil Afridi, visited the Abbottabad compound where bin Laden was located just weeks before US Special Forces killed the terrorist leader.

Dr Afridi was after DNA from children in the compound and is believed to have given US intelligence agents material that he obtained during the vaccination drive. It is not known if any of his actions played a direct role in bin Laden's capture.

Dozens have been killed and large parts of the country's north-western tribal areas are no-go zones for vaccination programs.

Hundreds of thousands of children have gone unvaccinated there since 2011.

Polio has since made a big comeback across Pakistan as a result.

This year there have been more than 60 confirmed cases of the disease, most stemming from the tribal areas. This time last year the number was eight.

"Polio has been generally rising in Pakistan because the Taliban and some religious clerics claim that polio vaccinations are actually a secret attempt to sterilise the population." Mustafa Qadri, an analyst at Amnesty International, said.

Polio is a viral disease spread by faecal matter often through open sewers and drains. It can cause serious paralysis and in some cases death.

Polio an international public health emergency: WHO

As recently as 25 years ago, Pakistan recorded thousands of cases of polio.

By 2012 a comprehensive vaccination program had seen the number of infections drop dramatically; Pakistan was on track to eradicate the disease.

That has all changed now. Pakistan is now one of the three remaining countries where the disease is endemic – the others are Nigeria and Afghanistan.

"To be thought of as the world's reservoir of polio? It's not a good title to have," Dr Abid said.

The situation is so bad that earlier this month the World Health Organisation declared the spread of polio to be an international public health emergency.

The WHO has recommended travel restrictions for Pakistanis and says they should provide an immunisation certificate when they arrive in other countries.

Many countries, such as India, have adopted these recommendations in regards to Pakistan.

Pakistan is also trying to clamp down on travel within its own borders – requiring those travelling from the north-west of the country also carry proof that they've been inoculated.

But millions of Pakistanis migrate internally every year and preventing the spread of polio is a tough task.

"I do this work because it is important. For the health of children and to protect them from disability, as if a child becomes paralysed, the entire family is affected," she said.

Munir was a lady health care worker - one of tens of thousands of women getting paid only a few dollars-a-day to administer polio vaccinations to children - and knew the reality of the dangers she and her colleagues faced.

Key facts: Polio

Polio mainly affects children under the age of 5 years of age

One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis

The World Health Assembly embarked on a global eradication program in 1988

Between 1988-2013, polio cases have decreased by over 99 per cent

Australia was declared polio-free in 2000

In 2014, polio was endemic in only three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan

(Source: World Health Organisation)

She remained passionate and committed to her work despite losing three of her colleagues in a fatal drive-by attack in January.

"I am not nervous. I am happy to go to endangered areas. I am not afraid of anything. I am a soldier," she said.

Dozens of heavily armed policemen would accompany Munir and her to team to the Karachi suburb of Landhi Town - an area known to be a centre for the Taliban.

The vaccinators go door-to-door asking those inside if they have any children under the age of 5. If so, drops are administered.

But some parents refuse. They often do so because of a concerted propaganda campaign by Islamic extremists that tells them the drops contain urine and other poisons.

Huge spike in cases of polio in Pakistan

At Karachi's National Institute of Child Health, doctors are alarmed at the re-emergence of polio.

Dr Jameel Raza says he has noticed a huge spike in cases, especially in the past year.

"Sometimes you are able to help them out with braces and rehabilitation programs to make them walk." Dr Raza says.

"Of course the more severe cases it is not possible to make them walk and they remain severely disabled."